Months earlierDavid sat at the edge of the table, anxious. He was in his costume, but without his mask.There weren't many things that could make the strongest parahuman feel this way. Terrified.The Blasphemies. Contessa. The Siberian. The Endbringers. Scion.On the other side of the room, the door opened. She walked in.And Blackwall…She looked like a normal, fit woman, wearing a white suit and black gloves. There were hints at her true nature. Thin lines that went from behind her ears to her spine. The flickering red of her eyes, revealing her Shard-like nature. Details that not even her artificial body could conceal.David could only compare her to the other woman he feared. The two moved in the same way - without hesitation. Without doubt. Each breath was perfectly timed, each blink spaced at equal intervals. Contessa and Blackwall both wore the skin and shape of a human, but neither acted like one.He had accessed a Thinker power on instinct, both to try and understand more about Blackwall and to try and protect what little pride he had left."Blackwall," David greeted, trying to hide his unease."Thank you for being here." The cadence of her voice was even more unsettling now that David was able to more carefully observe her."What is this about? I assumed that Doctor Mother would be here as well.""She will learn about this meeting depending on what you decide. I didn't want to put additional pressure on you. There are no cameras here, it's just us two. Nobody else."David narrowed his eyes, anxiety spiking. His heart started to beat more rapidly. Blackwall noticed."Explain," he demanded."We've come across a way to increase your power. To bring you back to your prime, and far beyond. In a way at least. It is not something I can suggest lightly."The price will be your life. If you don't die in battle, the process will kill you within the week.""I don't follow. Did you make a breakthrough with new vials?""No. This comes from an older vial, one that resulted in a terrible mutation. I've… tested it thoroughly, and the results are incredible and terrible.""You're going in circles.""I can't tell you much more than this. It will be a painful procedure, but the results are clear. You'll get the chance to change the battlefield, but the price is steep.""Why are you even asking me? You already know my answer. I'd sacrifice much more than my life to stop the End of the World. I already have.""...in a way, this is part of the procedure. It is important that you think about this, that you process these thoughts. I need you to be fully sure if you decide to go through with it. There can be no doubt. No hesitation. Or else it will not work."David stared wide-eyed at Blackwall. His Thinker power was trying in many ways to theorize and understand why those conditions would be necessary, but there was too much missing. Too many key variables that he would need to know about before his power could provide a reliable theory.He closed his eyes. Discarded that power. Immediately his mind relaxed, anxiety flowing away. He didn't need power at that moment."Twenty-five years. Closer to twenty-six, now. Before Doctor Mother found me, I… I had nearly taken my life. To feel in control, to have the power to decide something for myself. But I survived. Then Doctor Mother offered me power, made no promise that I'd survive."It had been more than two decades, yet sometimes when David woke up, he instinctively reached for a wheelchair that he no longer needed."I survived again."Blackwall remained quiet."These powers allowed me to truly live. But I won't hesitate to lay down my life to save the world, I can promise that."David looked straight into Blackwall's red eyes. For a moment he saw the slightest trace of pity, of affection, at least he thought.There was only silence for a moment longer."Very well," Blackwall said as she stood up, "you'll know what to do when the time comes."
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NowEidolon floated within the dark room, blindfolded. Blackwall was by his side, standing on the metallic floor."Is… is this him?" A voice asked. A younger girl."Yes. As we discussed. This is your last chance to back away. Both of you." Blackwall looked at the other two."I'm ready." Eidolon simply stated."This- This is the only way I can make things right," the young woman said."Good. I'm sorry."Blackwall grabbed onto Eidolon's arm, removed his glove and pulled him forward. He felt 'flesh' touch his palm.Then his power flickered.
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'Eidolon' fell to the ground, naked as the day he was born. Surrounded by darkness and a handful of people. They wore costumes, each a variation of his own.It took him a moment longer to understand that he was not 'David'. But he was still 'Eidolon', in all of the ways that mattered. He stood up from the ground, and within a second his power got to work. It wasn't like the original. He could reach for only two powers, and he didn't have access to abilities that could improve his mind or body. But he only needed something to cover himself. A green hue surrounded him, and suddenly he was in costume.The other people in the room turned and looked at him. They, too, were 'Eidolon'. But only one was David, standing at the center, with his hand upon Noelle.This 'Eidolon', like the ones before him, now realized that he had been lied to. And not really. Blackwall had chosen her words really carefully.His body felt weak, unstable. Memories of long ago resurfaced, of wheelchairs and hospital beds.No. It's not the same. He could stand on his own, despite the weakness in his limbs. And more than that, he still felt the power running through his veins. Power ready to be unleashed.He had gestated too quickly, spending the minimum amount of time before being 'born'. His body would continue to decay.He'd die within a week.Probably earlier, given the task at hand.Blackwall had lied to David. She'd told the truth as well, just not to him.To them. The unfortunate clones that were going to die in pain as their organs failed."Another one joins us," one of the 'Eidolons' spoke. "It is tiring to refer to ourselves as 'Eidolons', isn't it? One of us decided on another name."We're the Fated.""Fated to die… To make our deaths matter…" the latest 'Eidolon' mumbled, which earned a chuckle from another."This one still has faith."There were tiny differences in each of the Fated. In the costume. In the way their powers glowed in the dark room. In the way they talked or stood. Each could feel the way their powers echoed with each other, like a distant resonance. They were taking from the same well of power, one that was already mostly empty.Each had David's full set of memories. They felt immeasurable hatred towards the original, towards Doctor Mother, Legend, Alexandria and Blackwall.But that hate, that desire to kill and torture anyone close to the original David, was a small part of them. Noelle's power had instilled that hatred in their mind. It was artificial.Had David been a purely altruistic individual, with the desire to save the world to save humanity, then each of the Fated here would already be out there, destroying the world. But deep down David was a prideful man, he wanted to prove himself. And there was only one creature, one monster that could challenge him. Them.Scion.
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The Entity walked. Each step brought it to another Earth, further away from human life.The interloper had left traces. Weak, hard to follow, but she still had left them. Anytime the Entity entered a new Earth, a golden sun would cover the surface of the planet, looking for the interloper. The Entity failed each time.Until it reached a land of rock and steel.His senses revealed machinery beneath the ground, going all the way to the furthest reaches of the planet. Finally, the Entity found what it was looking for. The interloper, hidden away.Before it could move, eleven humans appeared in the air around it. Had it been any other humans the Entity would have ignored them.But those eleven humans were hideous to the Entity. They wore the rotting flesh of the only being the Entity could love. They puppeteered its corpse, desecrating the memory of what once was.The Entity roared in anger. A roar that rippled through the air, sending a wave of golden death towards the humans. This was the Entity's strongest weapon at its disposal, the Stilling.Each of the humans reacted differently. Some disappeared in a burst of energy, others raised their hands and released their powers. A tower of solid light appeared, and from its center a wave of green energy was released to meet the Stilling. The two shockwaves met and annihilated each other.One of the humans shot forward, turning into a blur. Power rippling through his veins to protect him from the sudden acceleration. He smashed into the Entity, sending them both plummeting from the sky. Another human, the same that had created the tower, raised his hand to the sky. A hundred swords and spears appeared there, partially transparent. The human lowered his hand, and the weapons rained upon the Entity.Each of the weapons pierced its flesh. Each carried a different avenue of attack. Some pierced the Entity physically, others turned into energy just as they made contact, exploding. Others still simply worked to disrupt its defenses, trying to stop it from adapting to the attacks.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.The Entity clapped its hands and sent out another wave of Stilling light, this time perfectly tuned to kill them all. But one of the humans, the one that had stood furthest in the back, the one that carried the original Shard, shouted something:"Blackwall!"Dark rifts appeared behind each of the eleven. They disappeared into another Earth, dodging the Stilling wave effortlessly. Then another set of eleven rifts appeared, and the humans reappeared."My turn now," one of the humans mumbled. His voice was distorted, broken. His costume broke at the seams as he began to glow larger, limbs twisting and extending. Turning into a crystalline monster. The monster never stopped growing, even as it reached the size of a building. The Entity knew this application of power, knew that it would never stop growing until it reached the atmosphere.The monster opened his maw and breathed down a constant stream of fire and lightning, carving into the rock below and widening the crater. When the Entity attempted to adapt its body to defend against this attack, a sickly yellow glow enveloped it from a distance. Another avenue of attack.Chunks of golden flesh melted away under the destruction.Enough.The Entity dug deeper into its powers, reaching for abilities that were normally too resource-intensive to put to use. Five solar years of its lifespan were consumed in one second.Threads of ethereal golden light extended from its flesh, weaving through the sky without care for the constant barrage of attacks directed at the Entity. The threads wrapped themselves around any of the humans they could reach, and from that point of contact a golden flame enveloped them.In an instant, ten bodies lit up in the sky, burned to ashes in a golden conflagration.The instant after, they were back. Ten puppets of crystals fell down from the sky. Substitutes, while the humans had been concealed under layers of illusion to trick the Entity.Each of the eleven humans was focusing on a single set of abilities. Using the configuration that the humans had devised to categorize power.Hand raised, the Entity slowly rose in the air, countering the beam of fire and lightning with its own beam of light. The monster could not keep up, pushed back in a contest of strength.The Entity could bear it no longer. It watched the corpse of its most beloved companion, puppeted and destroyed by humans that had discovered the truth about the Cycle. If before the Entity felt anger, now that anger turned into fury.It reached for the most expensive of its powers. The one that the Entity should have used to save its companion.Five hundred years of its lifespan disappeared as the Entity posed the Shards a single question.Path: kill the eleven humans.
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David, stupidly, felt hope as he watched Scion be brought down again and again. Each of the Fated, his clones, carried a variation of his own power. Beyond that, the more they fought the more their powers seemed to resonate, synching into a perfect rhythm. They didn't have to tell each other when to attack, or how.But then something in the golden man's posture changed. Scion's back was suddenly straighter, his expression drained of all emotions.He clapped his hands. Again a wave of golden death spread from his body, but this time it was slower, no faster than walking pace. One of the Fated conjured a tower again, the one that had stopped Scion's first attack.Scion shot forward, towards that tower. His fists met the projected light and tore through the construct without effort. But he didn't stop there, continuing in his trajectory towards the nearest Fated. The one that had been focusing on coordinating them all, the one that had accessed a Thinker power to manipulate the battlefield.Another of the Fated, using a Stranger power, tried to once again trick Scion's senses as it had done once before, but this time it didn't work. Scion barreled through the illusion without any regard for it. There was no time for Blackwall to create a dimensional door.It can't be… A terrible fear filled David's mind. The worst case scenario.He shifted his powers, giving him access to a Breaker ability. He reached for the Thinker-Fated, phasing his body out of tune with this reality.Scion didn't care. He grabbed for the space the body had occupied, and something in his golden physiology dragged back the Thinker-Fated into the world. Scion crushed his neck before he fully finished materializing back. The blood didn't linger on his skin, flowing away.The Fated who had built the tower tried a different tactic, throwing up multiple walls of solid light in a ring around Scion, trying to pin him down for another focused strike. Scion slowly floated through them, like they were made of smoke. The Brute-Fated, the one who had delivered the first strike in the battle, barreled forward again.This time he didn't even get close. Scion backhanded him in the chest, moving too fast for any of the Fated to even see what had happened. One moment the Brute-Fated was flying forward, the next he was red mist.The Changer-Fated, the crystal giant who kept growing in size, roared and unleashed everything at once. Fire and lightning. The beam ignited the night. Scion raised his palm and met the beam. It stopped in mid-air. The monster, too, stood there, frozen and wrapped in a monochrome hue. Locked in time. Scion lazily sent a blast of light towards the immobile giant, decapitating him. The head remained there in the sky, unmoving.Two of the Fated tried to combine their approaches. One created a layered illusion, projecting a thousand blasts of energy in the sky that all aimed at Scion. Another, the Blaster-Fated, tried to use this chance to annihilate anything near Scion, creating an anti-matter sphere that shot through the sky, hidden among the illusions.Scion didn't fall for the deception, allowing the fake attacks to strike and disappear against his skin. He tore through the last of the walls of light slowing him down. He pointed his finger forward. A thin golden line shot from his hand, cutting clouds and flesh alike. The line struck the anti-matter sphere and pierced through, leaving a finger-sized hole in the head of the Blaster-Fated.The remaining Fated shifted their powers, trying new tactics. Nothing worked. A switch had been flipped within Scion, and now he acted with deadly efficiency. Each move brought down one of the Fated, destroying each one's brain in a single attack. Some were decapitated, others reduced to fine red mist.David felt panic rise. His breathing became quicker, and before he knew it he was on his knees, grasping for his chest.This here had been the strongest line of defense humanity could muster, and Scion had crushed it within four minutes.More than that, David had recognized how he did it. At some point, Scion had changed his approach, like… like Contessa."David." Blackwall's voice brought him back to the present. "Don't give up."But Contessa was not unbeatable. Not anymore.David stood up, closing his eyes to calm down. He watched as Scion crushed the head of the last of the Fated, leaving David to be the last one standing.But David had prepared for this. There was a reason as to why he'd kept back during the fight.He was the Trump of the group.During the fight he had kept one of the powers in reserve. Shifting constantly, in search of one that could do what he wanted. And he had found it.His senses expanded. He felt each of the ten corpses that covered the battlefields. 'Eidolons'. Even those that had been reduced to mist had left a remnant of their strength. A remnant of David's budding Shard.He reached for those remnants and-Scion turned. For the first time since the fight began, he looked directly at David. The original. The one who had accepted to sacrifice himself. The strongest parahuman alive.But there was no recognition on Scion's face. To the golden god, David was just another human. Whatever fury had been there at the start of the fight was now gone. Scion crossed the battlefield in a single step, closing the gap between them in an instant. His hand closed around David's throat. He lifted him up.David still had strength filling his body. He channeled his powers to-Then David saw the golden lips move. Scion spoke, for the second time ever."You needed worthy opponents."Four words. Four words that dug deep into David's mind like a bullet shooting through his brain. He let go of his power.There was no point.'Other people will judge you for what you've done.'No. No, there was one last thing he had to do.The grip around his throat grew tighter. David would die here. He held no doubts about that.But at least he would die trying."We're both pathetic, you and I…" David mumbled with strained words.He channeled the power he'd gathered, all of the Shards that had budded from his own, into one single purpose. He knew that whatever he did, he couldn't kill Scion. Contessa's power protected the Entity, and it would continue to allow Scion to survive until he accomplished his goal.David could only hope that like with Contessa, Scion had neglected to ask the right question.The power in his grip shifted, covering the area around them. Creating a field of energy that would linger after David's death. A cage for Scion. One to hold him for just two seconds more.The light faded from David's eyes as he smiled. He saw Scion's expression turn from apathy to rage once again.The last thing David saw was the moon, looming and beautiful. He looked up at the only other person that could finish this. Blackwall was humanity's last hope.The moon fell from the sky.